Gastroanthropology

Danish Smørrebrød

When you are a trained chef people always ask, where do you go to eat? A chef working in fine dining often craves traditional, simple, good food. If you work in restaurants, chances are your only day off is Monday. So where do you go for lunch on a Monday in Copenhagen when its icy, cold and covered in snow?

Told & Snaps for Smørrebrød. 

It's best to arrive via bicycle (chosen method of travel by Danes in Copenhagen, even in the deep of winter!). 

I went with a chef friend for an early lunch. We sat at a table for two. As the afternoon progressed chefs from the best in Copenhagen trickled in (just getting out of bed of course, as chefs are notorious for sleeping breakfast away). Soon we moved to a table for four, then six, then eight. Lucky for me - most of the chefs hail from Scandinavian countries and knew just what to order.

Smørrebrød are open-faced sandwiches served on buttered rugbrød (Danish for rye bread). I was in absolute rugbrød heaven as I stumbled bakery-upon-bakery serving all sorts of this tangy, seeded, dense bread.

At Told & Snaps there are over 30 different smørrebørd and 2 to 3 are recommended per person for lunch. Classics include lun stegt sild i lage - fried and marinated herring.

This smoked eel with scrambled egg (røget Ål med røræg) is one of the most popular dishes and a delicious combination.

Can't leave Scandinavia without a little fishcake...fiskefrikadeller med hjemmerørt remoulade.

Fish is followed by a Danish classic of meatballs served with red cabbage - lune frikadeller med rødkål og surt.

Nørrebro Bryghus is a local Danish beer and produced carbon neutrally.

Another classic smørrebrød is beef served with shaved horseradish and pickled vegetables...Oksebryst, kogt i porter med pickles og peberrod.

You can't leave Denmark with having a bit of pork. Why not start with warm pork rib roast and red cabbage? Ribensteg fra fritgående grise.

It's tradition to wash all this rich food, like warm liver pate with bacon - lun leverpostej med bacon og agurkesalat...

with a bit of housemade snaps (Danish for a small shot of strong alcohol, like the German schnaps)...

Potent and a touch sweet we choose elderflower akvavit to cut the richness of the smørrebrød. We also had some housemade walnut akvavit which was equally lovely.

Told og Snaps, Toldbodgade 2, 1253 København. 

Marrakech + Flatbread

Moroccan food was something I discovered later in life. When I was working in a restaurant, which notoriously served super rich and super seasoned food - you'd be shocked at how much butter, cream, salt and egg yolks we went through - I got very excited when one of our chefs of Moroccan heritage would cook staff meal. The absence of butter laden sauces and presence of spices for flavor cleansed the palate and refreshed the stomach. Having heard the rumors of the amazing spice souks (markets) I had to go to Morocco.

Constrained by time we chose to spend a full day in Marrakech and a few days in the High Atlas Mountains. In Marrakech we lost ourselves in the never-ending maze of souks. Bright sunny skies and color was everywhere - in the clothes, foods, spices, and rugs.

When I say, "lost ourselves", I'm not joking. At the end of the day we walked ourselves back to our riad (house), only to find ourselves back at the main square we had left over a half hour ago! Marrakech was an intense experience to say the least, and we welcomed our escape to the High Atlas Mountains. But, not before enjoying a hot, delicious, chicken and preserved lemon tagine.

We considered renting a car to drive ourselves to the High Atlas Mountains, but in the end decided not too. After getting lost on foot so many times it was absolutely the right choice.

In the High Atlas Mountains we chose to stay at the Kasbah du Toubkal. It's a great place to stay if you enjoy hiking. The hotel is run by local Berbers, born and raised in the neighboring villages. They will show you the best hikes or take you by donkey. In the evening you can book some time in a private hamman and then enjoy a delicious Moroccan feast. With dinner, which will most certainly be tagine, a delicious flatbread is served. Its cooked outside in the Kasbah courtyard the traditional way - over a fire.

Back in London, where a fire won't burn outside, on account of the sleet and general all-the-time wetness in the air, I've been making flatbread in a pan, on the stove. A grill pan would work just as well. Flatbread is super simple to make and goes well with tagine to help sop up the juices. In Marrakech, we had flatbread with chilled onions and eggplant that had been previously chopped up and melted in a pan with olive oil. Any Moroccan dip would go great with homemade flatbread.

FLATBREAD

• 315 g all-purpose flour
• 6 g active dry yeast
• 6 g salt
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 c to 3/4 c warm water

METHOD

Combine flour, yeast, and salt in a bowl. Stir the drys together to mix. Add olive oil and 1/2 c of the warm water. Use your hands and begin to work the dough. If its too dry, add a bit more water. The dough should be sticky at first. Once you knead the dough it should come together into an elastic, glossy dough. Cut into pieces and roll out into desired size - should be about 1/4 inch thick. Lightly brush a pan with olive oil and cook flatbread. The pan needs to be about medium to high heat. Monitor the heat - if the flatbread is on too long you will get more cracker-like flatbread, and a pan that is too hot might make a doughy flatbread - cooked on the outside, but not in the middle. Serve warm with tagine or any Moroccan inspired dip.

Another Moroccan favorite is cous cous. In Morocco, it is often served with roasted vegetables, chicken, or lamb.

Cous cous is quite simple to make and most suggest you just rehydrate with warm water or stock. To make cous cous in a more traditional way, place the dry cous cous in fine mesh container and have it steam over hot, gently boiling chicken stock (vegetable stock is fine too). Fluff, and repeat.

 

Norwegian Cinnamon Boller (Buns)

My absolute most favorite thing to do in the world is visit bakeries. While I love visiting food markets on my travels I'm often limited to what I can buy because I don't have access to a kitchen or have to keep in mind airline restrictions. When you visit a bakery, however, its on the spot consumption and instant gratification. I'm not a fan of sickly sweet or smothered with glazes, so multigrain breads, buttery croissants and spiced buns are more up my alley. In Norway, they have these just barely sweet spiced buns called boller. Cardamom and cinnamon are popular spices. We saw plain spice boller, some with raisins, and some with chocolate chips. Nate's mom informs me that never did they have chocolate chip boller in the Norwegian bakeries when she was growing up. We actually sampled one with chocolate chips and decided chocolate doesn't really go with the boller.

Last week, no its been two weeks now (how time flies!), when we were in Norway, after an afternoon of swimming here...

we were treated to a delicious, homemade Norwegian Spice Kringle (sweet bread), very similar to the boller we had tasted.

So, today after a very successful morning on my dissertation I took the afternoon off to make Norwegian Cinnamon Boller. It's just a barely sweet, flaky, cinnamon-y bun. Simple and fan-freakin-tabulous. 

NORWEGIAN CINNAMON BOLLER, makes 9 servings

For the Dough:

• 1.75 oz butter, melted
• 3/4 c whole milk
• 1 egg
• 2 1/4 c flour
• 1/4 c sugar 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 4 tsp rapid-rise or instant yeast (about 11 grams)

For the Filling:

• 3 oz butter, room temp 
• 1/3 c packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cardamom 
• 2 tsp cinnamon 
• 1/2 chopped walnuts (or pecans) 

METHOD

Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a bowl. Heat milk till its hot to touch, but not boiling. Whisk in egg and melted butter. Pour over dry ingredients and combine. Knead dough with a dough hook on your kitchen aid. Mine's at home, far, far, away so I kneaded by hand. A bit tough for my arm muscles and a bit sticky - but worked fine. Add a bit more flour if its so sticky you can't work with it. Knead till dough is smooth and springs a bit. Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel. Leave in a warm place till the dough doubles (30-45 min). 

Meanwhile, combine filling ingredients. When dough has doubled, turn out onto a well-floured surface. Roll the dough out, trying to keep it as rectangle as possible, between a quarter to a half inch thick. Spread the filling to cover the dough, and make sure it spreads to the edges, especially width wise. Roll it up from the longer side and cut into nine equal pieces. Put in a buttered 8X8 cake pan. They don't need to touch. Let sit out for 15 minutes then place in a 400 F/ 200 C oven for about 25 minutes. When deep golden brown and cooked through remove from oven. Let sit out for a few minutes if you can bare it to spare your tongue from burning! I'm always so impatient I burn my fingers and my tongue.

Enjoy. I am - while posting!

Norwegian Geitost

My Korean-American union with my Norwegian-American husband has created an extended family that might put the UN to shame. We've got family members from all over Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa. With my dark brown hair and his blonder than blonde we are definitely melting the pot. Our move to London has definitely deepened the Norwegian connection as it's a quick flight to Oslo. My husband's family summer home on the coast, 2 hours from Oslo, near Sandefjord, is quite possibly the most relaxing place ever. Steps away from the beach and 20+ hours of sunlight per day require just a few things: towel, good book, snorkel, eyeshades, and Nordic food. Bathing suit optional. For days we just woke up (early - no sleeping in when the sun's rising at 3 am!), drank coffee, ate, sunned, rowed around in a little boat, swam, went for walks in the woods, picked Norwegian berries, attempted to fish, and fell asleep at who knows what time. We felt no sense of time as this was the scene at 10 pm...

The house sits back on rock at the edge of Norwegian woods, just hugging the coast. The actual home is hundreds of years old and was moved to the coast from the north when wartime made lumber scarce. Little wild strawberries were in full bloom and blackberry bushes were full of flowers and bee activity. 

We had bowls of Norwegian strawberries with cream for dessert. They are so intensely full of flavor that you almost feel like your getting drunk off strawberries.

Besides smoked salmon I had little experience with Norwegian food until I met my other half. The first Norwegian food I was introduced to was a block of Ski Queen Gjetost that Nate found at Whole Foods. Geitost, sold as in the Gjetost in the US, is a brown cheese (brunost). Goat's milk, cream, and whey are boiled until the sugars in the milk and cream caramelize and water evaporates. What's left is a semi-hard brown goat cheese that's a bit sweet and really creamy. 

The cheese is getting easier to find in the US, and if you happen to get your hands on some, make sure you use a cheese slicer. Using a knife is a futile attempt against this cheese and screams amateur. 

For breakfast we had geitost on toasted rye, and for lunch geitost on lefse...

Lefse, is a traditional Norwegian flatbread, often made with potato flour. It's usually eaten with geitost, butter with cinnamon sugar, berry jams or tyttebær (Norwegian mountain cranberry) jam, or used to wrap hot dogs - a childhood treat that Nate must always have when back at the homeland. 

Honestly, the days in Norway absolutely refreshed me. We came back to London with the tiles ripped out of our shower, a broken toilet, phone line malfunction that has cut off broadband, and heavy rains - but whatever, life is good. More on Norway and Nordic treats in the weeks to come...  

Irish Soda Bread

I grew up in California where a bad weather day is a few clouds hiding the sun for more than a few minutes. So imagine my amazement when I felt the absolute strongest wind of my life in Ireland. The gale force winds (I think they must have been stronger than gale force) smashed the waves against the Cliffs of Moher spewing ocean spray everywhere. It wasn't hard to imagine our little blue rental car being whipped into the winds and being dumped into the Atlantic.

We ventured all over the lower Shannon making sure to take the roads less traveled. Here we had to pull over and wait for a little while when the locals were moving pasture.

We finally made it to this unmarked stone structure, right at the edge of a cliff. It had obviously been abandoned for some time and something unexplainably mystical about it.

The only food we had that stuck out in my mind after the trip was a small loaf of Irish soda bread Nate procured one morning on a much needed coffee run. It had just arrived to the store from the baker and steamed a little when we pulled it apart. It was so simple and misshapen, but hit the spot.

It's not the most prettiest bread, but it does the trick. The major difference between Irish soda bread and most other breads is that it uses no yeast. The key ingredient to this quick bread is, of course, baking soda. Yogurt or soured milk (buttermilk), is used because the lactic acid in the yogurt or milk reacts with the baking soda to make carbon dioxide, leavening the bread. In my recipe baking powder is included because where I use all-purpose flour the folks on this side of the pond tend to use self-raising flour.

This recipe makes a fairly small loaf because Irish soda bread tastes the best straight from the oven and drys out pretty quickly so it needs to be eaten no later than the day after it was baked. It's delicious warm from the oven and slathered with butter and jam. Nate had some today with a little mustard and Irish cheddar. This bread would also be great torn into chunks to dip in soup. The bread takes less than 5 minutes to put together (excluding baking time).

IRISH SODA BREAD

• 1 c all-purpose flour
• 1 c whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 c plain, full-fat yogurt

METHOD

Preheat oven to 325°Fahrenheit/ 180°C. Whisk together drys. Add yogurt and stir in with a wooden spoon. I usually get my hands in it for a few seconds, just to make sure everything is incorporated, but there is no need to work the dough at all. Put dough in a sprayed loaf pan or you can leave it free form in a round shape and bake on a greased baking sheet. Bake for about 35-40 minutes (test with a skewer). If you double the recipe it will need to cook for an approximately 20 more minutes.